Eased Nerves

This past weekend I had the opportunity to talk to a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV). She answered all the questions I simply can't find in the readings or online.  It was so nice to hear about her experience in South Africa, watch a video of her two years, and simply ask an unlimited amount of questions!  By no means did she make the two years sound like a breeze, but she did make the experience seem a little more flexible than I have been imagining.  She kept reminding me that this is two years of my real life, so make sure to live it.  I have no doubt I will use the time wisely!  

I compiled a list of a few of the things she told me.  These were things she actually experienced (or wished she had known pre-departure).  I could get to Lesotho and have a totally different experience (she alerted me of this).  She was in a different country, then again a country that completely surrounds my own:

• Bring clothes I would actually want to wear (while being respectfully conservative).  
• Be prepared for hot and cold.  They are both brutal.
• Bring make-up and heels.  Ha!  
• 3 years ago (when she was in South Africa) all volunteers had cell phones that called the US (at extremely high rates!).  
• There will be accessible internet.  Hers was a brief 45 minute walk away the first year, and IN her village the second year!  
• Beg for encouragement from family and friends.  Knowing you guys and all the support you have already shown, I doubt this would ever be a problem (THANKS!!!).  She warned me I will come home if my American counterparts do not discourage it.  
• I apparently will have very few visitors (among all the promises) and I need to be prepared for that.  I willing to try and beat the odds on this one!
  
• I can probably remain vegetarian but will have to answer lots of questions and people will think I am insane.  (People think that here!)
• You are giving up a lot (back home) by committing 27 months of your life to living and serving overseas!  On the contrary, the experience can more than make up for it and naturally it will if you let it.  Also, you will not realized what you gave up until you get back.  I can already tell she is right on about this because a part of me still thinks I am not giving up anything by leaving (and I will only gain from this experience).  Oh how I wish my friends and family were Sims I could "pause" while away.  
• Her final piece of advise was to travel lots! 

All this advice and what am I packing, you ask?  50lbs of patience! 

"Any idealist who tries to join the Peace Corps must realize she is not going to change the world overnight" (Sargent Shriver)